It doesn't distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate uses of paper money, assuming that anyone holding large amounts of cash must be guilty of something. European studies have found that cash incurred the lowest cost per transaction in most countries, followed by debit-card transactions. In the United States, cash is still used for about 40% of consumer transactions by volume, around half that by value. Currently, negative rates can be circumvented by investors physically withdrawing cash and holding it to avoid the effective tax on savings. Where the elimination of cash is linked to negative rates, they may resist what's effectively a tax on savers.

Source: Bangkok Post May 22, 2017 19:30 UTC